geekhack
geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: iMav on Tue, 17 August 2010, 02:45:36
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LINK (http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-IBM-Lexmark-M-15-M15-Ergonomic-Keyboard-13H6689-/290464779850?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs)
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LINK (http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-IBM-Lexmark-M-15-M15-Ergonomic-Keyboard-13H6689-/290464779850?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs)
Nice find. Don't these typically sell for over $100?
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They certainly do. They've sold for very well over a hundred bucks. I think one sold for $800 once.
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They certainly do. They've sold for very well over a hundred bucks. I think one sold for $800 once.
Yeah that was the one webwit bought.
The price on that will jump substantially near the end. Since it has an IBM logo, people may be more willing to pay extra money for it.
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recently , one Lexmark included numpad sold for $622
one IBM label sold at $650
so this one probably goes for $500
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As people get accustomed to them being expensive, people will churn out more for them. There was a time where they peaked out at $300. Then it went up to around $500. Now we're seeing them consistently go for over $600. They'll be selling for a grand sooner or later.
All for a Model M2 chopped in half...
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It's a tenkeyless, and it has lots of options for adjustments.
Because it is made of two halves, means most likely that it also has one controller in each half.
This keyboard goes on my "cool keyboards" list.
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it's awesome. I don't expect to be able to afford it after the 6+ days are up though :(
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Just two bids and it's at $102.50
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Really it's nothing special. The keys are lower than usual, the braces are kind of made cheaply (plastic instead of metal bars; even my chicony rubber dome uses metal bars), and it's far too overpriced.
A Model F15 split ergonomic (with NORMAL keys instead of low stupid ones); now THAT would be amazing.
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Those keyboards are actually very good ergonomic products. Adjustability is their high point.
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yet, the seller refused to add oversea auction.
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Considering that I got scammed (as a seller) a while back on an auction by a person in Japan, there's an exception to everything ಠ_ಠ
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At the time (I have no idea if they still do) ebay offered integrated method of sending that didn't use tracking. Obviously they are going to bury clauses that give the seller such a major liability deep in EULAs that no one reads (especially new members), and conveniently forget to mention anything about it when using it as a method of shipping. Even offering it as an option is shady enough. Predictably enough, as soon as buyer claimed no receipt, paypal reversed the money. I had proof of sending, but they don't care about that either.
It was a fairly expensive item, and I felt part of the blame was mine as well, but I didn't really care about selling anything else and scrubbed both ebay and paypal accounts. They just didn't give a damn about sellers back then, and even less so now. Unfortunately for my complete boycott, I still need to make at least one purchase on ebay because of all you people :p
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You know what, I'm tempted just to bump up the bidding. May as well since it'll undoubtedly go for a lot.
God forbid if I actually won it, an extremely poor man with a fairly sought after keyboard I guess.
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The seller actually won't ship to Canada; therefore I can't have fun adding bids.
So I guess this auction is US only!
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The seller actually won't ship to Canada; therefore I can't have fun adding bids.
So I guess this auction is US only!
You know what, I'm tempted just to bump up the bidding. May as well since it'll undoubtedly go for a lot.
God forbid if I actually won it, an extremely poor man with a fairly sought after keyboard I guess.
Phew. Yes, I'm the highest bidder. Be nice to the n00b.
I've been lurking for a few weeks as I build a collection and find my preferred setup. I've used ergonomic keyboards for a very long time but I love the sound and feel of mechanical switches.
Ripster, your posts (along with the excellent photography) have been informative and entertaining. I think we have similar tastes in hardware.
The supply-demand curve is not an accurate model of auctions. In the chart above, each curve represents an aggregation: The demand curve shows the number of people willing to pay zero, $1, $2, etc. up to some arbitrary amount. The supply curve shows the number of sellers willing to "produce" (in this case, sell) for $1, $2, etc. Where they meet is the free market price. There are lots of reasons that the sale of M15s doesn't take place like a free market, but I won't go into that just now.
An auction price doesn't represent the price something would go for in a free market. For something to go for $1000 at auction, all you need is one person willing to pay $1000 and another willing to pay $999. As Voixdelion put it in the previous M15 thread:
Wow - SOLD @ $622 final... So...Genius? or would it have gone for more if there were some piranha action at the end with more than two interested parties?
Well, actually all it takes is two, I suppose.
People often balk at the prices things go for at auction. But those figures don't represent what something is "worth" in the common sense of the word, its free-market price.
There are few people willing to pay $100, let alone $500+, for an M15. Most of those people haven't even heard of the M15. It's not like this thing gets marketed. And the people both interested and willing to pay might not be searching eBay or checking this forum regularly. There were only two bidders on the last M15 sold (I sat that one out because I thought the starting bid was high).
Unfortunately, Ebay doesn't let you make direct bids (bumping up the max bid, say, by $100) to scare people off. It can be an extremely effective auction tactic.
In other news, I need to figure out the best way to position a Scrollpoint in my Belkin n52te so I can scroll comfortably but still have access to the D-pad...
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Phew. Yes, I'm the highest bidder. Be nice to the n00b.
I've been lurking for a few weeks as I build a collection and find my preferred setup. I've used ergonomic keyboards for a very long time but I love the sound and feel of mechanical switches.
Ripster, your posts (along with the excellent photography) have been informative and entertaining. I think we have similar tastes in hardware.
The supply-demand curve is not an accurate model of auctions. In the chart above, each curve represents an aggregation: The demand curve shows the number of people willing to pay zero, $1, $2, etc. up to some arbitrary amount. The supply curve shows the number of sellers willing to "produce" (in this case, sell) for $1, $2, etc. Where they meet is the free market price. There are lots of reasons that the sale of M15s doesn't take place like a free market, but I won't go into that just now.
An auction price doesn't represent the price something would go for in a free market. For something to go for $1000 at auction, all you need is one person willing to pay $1000 and another willing to pay $999. As Voixdelion put it in the previous M15 thread:
People often balk at the prices things go for at auction. But those figures don't represent what something is "worth" in the common sense of the word, its free-market price.
There are few people willing to pay $100, let alone $500+, for an M15. Most of those people haven't even heard of the M15. It's not like this thing gets marketed. And the people both interested and willing to pay might not be searching eBay or checking this forum regularly. There were only two bidders on the last M15 sold (I sat that one out because I thought the starting bid was high).
Unfortunately, Ebay doesn't let you make direct bids (bumping up the max bid, say, by $100) to scare people off. It can be an extremely effective auction tactic.
In other news, I need to figure out the best way to position a Scrollpoint in my Belkin n52te so I can scroll comfortably but still have access to the D-pad...
Get a scrollpoint pro... then you don't have to do any fancy cutting or that.
Well hope you win the M15 then. Better someone on geekhack than an unknown indiviudal.
EDIT: although you should heed webwit's advice and not announce it. Whenever he's keyboard hunting, he does it silently.
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Get a scrollpoint pro... then you don't have to do any fancy cutting or that.
Well hope you win the M15 then. Better someone on geekhack than an unknown indiviudal.
EDIT: although you should heed webwit's advice and not announce it. Whenever he's keyboard hunting, he does it silently.
I'm looking for a ScrollPoint Pro. But I want that Scrollpoint on my left hand for speeding through long documents. A regular Trackpoint or trackball might also be useful for one-handed goodness.
Thanks for the advice. If someone wants to be an ass and drive up the price, he or she might find him/herself stuck with an overpriced piece of hardware. I'd like an M15, but I just started to use my Omnikey Evolution today and I'm beginning to really like it. The alternative placement of the delete key is the only thing throwing me off.
I scored my 1989 Model M for $8 from a used electronics store in NYC (though I did order another broken Model M from eBay for $10 to replace the spacebar and some missing keys).
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NetW - Welcome to Geekhack!
Good luck on that M15 - we'll see how well that good old supply/demand curve works. I'm well aware Ebay is not a perfect market. In fact there's NOTHING perfect about Ebay.
Thanks.
eBay certainly isn't perfect. But as Voltaire said, "Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien" - the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Indeed, eBay (and Craigslist) have brought our society closer to a free-market economy for tangible goods than any system in the history of the world. The inefficiencies induced by auction fees, shipping, etc. are minimal compared to the need to travel to a market, engage in physical advertising, and that kind of thing.
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The seller actually won't ship to Canada; therefore I can't have fun adding bids.
So I guess this auction is US only!
That means no crazy Asian folks bidding a grand on it.
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You know what, I'm tempted just to bump up the bidding. May as well since it'll undoubtedly go for a lot.
God forbid if I actually won it, an extremely poor man with a fairly sought after keyboard I guess.
You want to troll Ebay? I'm not sure whether that would be epic or downright criminal.
Please reconsider your nefarious plot.
Phew. Yes, I'm the highest bidder. Be nice to the n00b.
Sorry, but that's not really the way to do it. Also see How to win at Ebay: Pitfalls of Early Bidding (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/ebay/early-bidding.htm).
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Less than five minutes left. Any guesses as to what it will go for? I'm thing $652.51.
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Nope, no sniping. It sold for $560.
:eek:
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Nope, no sniping. It sold for $560.
:eek:
I'm quite glad, too. I had stepped away to set up my TV for Miss Universe.
If the M15 is at least as satisfying as my Omnikey Evolution, I'm going to be a happy typist indeed.
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I'm quite glad, too. I had stepped away to set up my TV for Miss Universe.
If the M15 is at least as satisfying as my Omnikey Evolution, I'm going to be a happy typist indeed.
I guess the worst that could happen is you resell it at a higher price.
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I wonder if anyone would be brave enough to dismantle their M15 and take photos... :boink:
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I'm quite glad, too. I had stepped away to set up my TV for Miss Universe.
If the M15 is at least as satisfying as my Omnikey Evolution, I'm going to be a happy typist indeed.
I can only imagine it would be. The Evolution was nice for ALPS, but it was by far the loudest keyboard I have ever used. The heaviest, too.
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It came! (And so did that police keyboard (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=11304))
I won't have time until Labor Day weekend or so to write up full reviews, but I want to offer my initial thoughts.
Believe the hype. The M15 easily deserves the title of best keyboard ever made. It's unfortunate that it's not made anymore. Seriously, you should all forget about the Cherry Red hysteria and petition Unicomp, Kinesis, and whoever else owns the other IP behind this thing to produce a new version. The thing is a work of art, a masterpiece of engineering, and a delight to type on. The model I bought just celebrated its 15th birthday (it was born 24 August, 1995). It would look at home paired with a modern computer.
The only things I would add to it would be a Windows key (I'll just remap to right ALT) and a longer cable to separate the halves (it doesn't reach across the two arms of my recliner). Throw in wireless capability and an integrated pointing device and you have a keyboard that will blow any other product away.
The Omnikey Evolution (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4408) gets a lot of things right and is also wonderful to type on, but there are a few things that make it annoying to use. More on it later.
The TG3 BVU is a really stiff keyboard--Cherry Blacks plus the rubber blood shield make it a workout for the fingers. Perhaps an occasional 20-minute finger workout a few times a week is something everyone could use. I like the layout. The adjustable red backlighting is cool. If this thing were wireless and had some media buttons on the side, it would make a great HTPC keyboard - it seems durable enough to toss on the couch and withstand an occasional drop to the floor.
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Go on, dismantle it and take photos :p
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Happy to see somebody here got an M15!
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Another one has gone up:
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-Options-Ergonomic-Split-Keyboard-Model-M15-/110585205007?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item19bf64510f
This one is not khaytsus's: his is a Lexmark.
Don't worry about the missing rubber pad. It's easy to craft a replacement, and it's not even useful if the feet are up.
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Arrow keys on the left AND right.
HHKB needs that.
The BTC 8140 (http://www.buy.com/prod/btc-8140-ergonomic-keyboard-with-built-in-touch-pad/q/loc/101/205713566.html) and 8120 (http://www.btc.com.tw/pdf/8120.pdf) have a similar layout to the M15, with an Erase-Ease split spacebar and dual arrow keys. They also have Windows keys, which the M15 lacks. Alas, the BTCs use membrane switches.
The left-hand arrow keys are great for spreadsheets.